3 Secrets to Finding Good Massage Therapist Jobs
The question is burning in your brain – where am I going to be able to find massage therapist jobs that are high paying?
If you’re nearing completion of your massage school education, your mind is probably swimming with ideas of where you want to work and how much you want to make.
But you don’t just want to make a living; you want to find the massage therapist jobs that are high paying.
For a budding massage therapist, you not only want to make decent money, but you want to have a job that offers other benefits too.
Benefits like job satisfaction, health care, and professional development that will make you a better massage therapist and increase your opportunities.
By the time you reach the end of this blog post, Wellington College will have revealed 3 secrets to uncovering excellent massage therapist jobs. You’ll no longer have to worry about how and where to look for one, and you’ll have a brighter outlook on your new career as a massage therapist.
Decoding the Search for Massage Therapist Jobs
Let’s start with the premise that you’re fresh out of a massage therapy school. You’ve never looked for a professional job before and you don’t know where to start.
One of the big mistakes most massage therapist job seekers make is relying on online job sites. The idea that you can massively send out resumes then magically get calls for an interview is bogus.
Businesses receive hundreds, if not thousands of resumes a month. Human resource specialists at companies not only have to sort through all of the applicants, but they’re also saddled with loads of other work.
It’s not uncommon for a small HR staff to have to deal with hiring and firing, as well as training, safety issues, and other tasks.
Since jobsites like Indeed, Glassdoor, and Monster abound with opportunities, these departments get swarmed with applicants.
So, how do you find a massage therapist job without applying online and sending out resumes?
One of the best things about graduating from a massage therapy school is that you have a demonstrable skill. Having an education is great, but having an education that is tied to a skill is far better.
You need to get in front of potential employers and demonstrate to them that you’re the massage therapist they want to hire.
We’re not saying that you shouldn’t have a resume, - because you’ll need a professional one that is tailored for the employer you’ll be meeting. However, when you’re looking for a job, you’ll need to have a mixed approach to finding the businesses that are serious and looking for a pro.
Once again, you don’t want to blindly send out resumes and cover letters from ads on Indeed or Monster and hope a busy human resource person will ask you for an interview.
The Personal Connection Secret– The Fastest Way to Massage Therapist Jobs
Ask any high powered marketer which way is the best to sell a product or service and they’ll tell you face to face is number one, while picking up the phone and calling a prospect is a close second.
It is no different with finding a job.
As a matter of fact, you’re selling yourself and your skills as a massage therapist to a business. So, it stands to reason that you’ll need to make some sort of personal contact.
Before contacting potential employers, you’ll have to decide what kind of business or company you want to work for.
A few of the questions you need to ask yourself are:
Is it a stable business? (If you’re unsure check out the company’s profile on Manta or LinkedIn. If the business is not on either of those sites, it’s an indicator that the company is not a good one.)
Are you going to make enough money with the business? (If you have to live in a big city, then a $50,000 a year salary might not be enough.)
Will you be able to grow with this company? Do they have any educational or training incentives for massage therapists?
Will your employers value what you bring to the table? Will they understand the job of a massage therapist and how valuable your services are?
Does your personality fit the structure of the business and the people you’ll be working with?
The Secret to Quickly Launching Your Massage Therapist Career
Once you’ve figured out what type of spa, company, or hospital you’d like to work at, you can start contacting them.
Where do you find massage therapist jobs?
Most of the massage therapy schools have job boards with listings of massage therapist jobs on their websites. Canada has approximately 73 massage therapy schools and most of them maintain lists of jobs.
The U.S. has about 3,000 schools that teach massage therapy. Once again, many of these sites have listings from potential employers looking for professional massage therapists.
Another great way to find out about potential employers is to use Google Alerts. If you already have a Gmail account, you can have Google send you alerts about massage therapy jobs.
All you have to do is go to Google Alerts and type in “Massage Therapist Jobs” and you’ll start receiving emails about them.
You’ll get a lot of Indeed notices as well as any articles, blog posts and other information related to “Massage Therapist Jobs” that gets posted on the Internet.
(We realize that we told you not to apply through these sites. However, you can still look at the companies that are posting to see if they are of any interest to you.)
There is one real good benefit to using the job posting sites. The companies that post on them are paying for those job ads. If they are doing that, then they are serious about hiring someone.
But how do you get their attention without wasting time sending in cover letters and resumes?
Once you know what massage therapy businesses you want to contact, you can now begin to call them and ask them for an interview.
The Secret of Using Direct Action to Find a Massage Therapist Job
Once you find a business that you want to work at as a massage therapist, the next step is finding out who the owner or hiring person is and how to contact them.
Let’s look at a real life example. I Googled “Massage Therapist Job Canada” and found an Indeed advertisement for a massage therapist at Prince Edward Island:
You’ll notice the name of the business is “Massage Addict Charlottetown” and that it’s located at Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island.
You can easily find the number of the business because you can Google, “Massage Addict, Charlottetown, PE”
Here are the results:
You’ll notice that the phone number to the business is prominently displayed.
However, it’s very important that you find out the name of the owner or whoever is hiring, so you can ask for them directly.
If you don’t see their name listed on any of the hiring ads, you can usually get it by Googling: “Massage Addict Owner, Charlottetown, PEI”. (Notice I put “owner” into the search.)
Sure enough, the search results came up with a press release on the first page of Google results that had the name of the owner on it.
Once you have the name of the owner, all you have to do is call and say:
“Hello, I would like to speak to the Mr. Smith please.”
“Mr. Smith, my name is Samuel Massabini, and I’m a recent graduate of Wellington College School of Massage Therapy.
I understand that you have a job opening for a massage therapist and was wondering if I could get an interview with you for the position.
I do realize you advertised on Indeed, but it’s been my experience that the information I’ve been sending through that site gets overlooked. I’m wondering if there is a way I can send my information directly to you.”
Wait and listen…
Now, you’ve started a dialogue.
Either he will grant you an interview and tell you to send your resume, or inform you that the position is already filled.
We can guarantee you one thing; 99 times out of 100 you’ll have a really nice conversation with a professional working in your field. You’ll also gain some very valuable insights to the job market as well.
If a potential employer tells you to send in your resume, tailor your resume and cover letter to fit the business as much as you can. (Read this post on how to make your resume fit.)
The absolute beauty of this is that you won’t have to spend hours sending out cover letters and resumes to uninterested parties. You’ll know immediately or not whether the potential employers you’re targeting are interested.
And because you used your cell phone to make the call, it was faster and cheaper than sending a bunch of information by mail.
Not only that, but you can go through a whole list of potential employers in no time.
One last thing, the businesses you’re targeting will take you much more serious if you contact them personally. You will stand out from the rest of the massage therapists because you were proactive, diligent, and they will have heard your voice.
Conclusion
If you’re going to stand out from the crowd and claim one of the many massage therapist jobs there are out there, you’re going to have to do your research on the front end. Once you’ve done that, step outside your comfort zone and call them.
Taking this kind of action can help you get the gigs you want while putting your career on the fast track to financial success.
Interested in finding out more about a professional career as a massage therapist?
Call Wellington College at: (204)957-2402, and schedule a free consultation with one of our career specialists today.